The goals of the Right to Education (RTE) Act are unrealistic and unachievable in its entirety education experts and policymakers said at a conference here today, and endorsed the need for more dialogues with civil society, government agencies and educational service providers to bring the landmark legislation to fruition.              There is an imperative need to look afresh into the RTE Act, iron out its ambiguities and...

-PTI   National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) today said it has earmarked Rs 2,000 crore for building warehouses which will help in facilitating distribution of foodgrain to poor under the proposed Food Security Act. "Under RIDF ( Rural Infrastructure Development Fund), we have proposed to provide funds to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore exclusively for construction of scientific godowns across the country in this fiscal," NABARD Executive Director S...

Some Dalit businessmen plan to launch a Rs 500 crore venture capital fund — India’s first community-focused fund. The Central government’s new procurement policy will open business opportunities worth Rs 7,000 crore for Dalit and s (ST) Entrepreneurs. These Entrepreneurs are now gearing up to tap this opportunity by launching their own venture capital fund and increasing their production capacities. The proposed Rs 500 crore venture capital fund will be the country’s...

Lack of adequate credit - the lifeblood for any company is threatening to derail fledgling attempts by hundreds of dalit Entrepreneurs to overcome deep socio-economic barriers and break into mainstream business.  Without credit, such Entrepreneurs would also struggle to cash-in on the Rs 7,000-crore business opportunity opened up by the central government's new dalit-friendly sourcing plan, unveiled last month.  Credit disbursements to dalit Entrepreneurs through 20-odd schemes run by the Ministry of...

With the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance raising a red flag against the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) Bill to grant the UID (or Aadhar) project legal status, the project looks set for a slowdown . That could have broad implications for the tech sector that had laid substantial hope on it, especially when global markets are slowing down.  The UID project is estimated to offer IT companies a Rs...